When the global pandemic of 2020 ruined my birthday plans, I decided to write a fantasy episode of the tattoo-themed reality television competition Ink Master and have my friends do a live reading of the script over Zoom. 

The premise of Ink Master, which originally aired on Spike TV in 2012 (but has since moved to Paramount+) centers around a group of experienced tattoo artists competing to win $100k and the title of “Ink Master”. 2020 was not only a terrible year for the world at large, but also specifically for Ink Master. With the much-anticipated season finale of Ink Master: Turf War (season 13) scheduled to air in March, the show was hit first by a blackface scandal surrounding one of its permanent judges, and then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, there was no winner or final episode for the thirteenth season of Ink Master. The three finalists (Bob Jones, Angel Rose and Jimmy Snaz) were each awarded an undisclosed monetary prize instead. Their final master canvases (”human canvas” is what the tattoo recipients are called on Ink Master) were revealed on a YouTube Live.

In my fictional Ink Master, I wrote a dramatic mid-season episode that featured the original host Dave Navarro (played by me),  judges Chris Nuñez and Bret Michaels (replacing disgraced former judge Oliver Peck), returning contestants from past seasons and celebrity human canvases, all performed remotely by my friends.